CONTENT RIGHTS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2024

Intangible Assets, Net (Excluding Goodwill) [Abstract]

For purposes of amortization and impairment, capitalized content costs are grouped based on their predominant monetization strategy: individually or as a group. Programming rights are presented as two separate captions: licensed content and advances and live programming and advances. Live programming includes licensed sports rights and related advances. The table below presents the components of content rights (in millions).


	December 31, 2024
		Predominantly Monetized Individually		Predominantly Monetized as a Group		Total
Theatrical film production costs:
Released, less amortization		$	1,478	$	—	$	1,478
Completed and not released		480		—		480
In production and other		1,308		—		1,308

Television production costs:
Released, less amortization		1,470		5,678		7,148
Completed and not released		314		767		1,081
In production and other		392		2,008		2,400
Total theatrical film and television production costs		$	5,442	$	8,453	$	13,895
Licensed content and advances, net						4,369
Live programming and advances, net						1,375
Game development costs, less amortization						247
Total film and television content rights and games						19,886
Less: Current content rights and prepaid license fees, net						(784)
Total noncurrent film and television content rights and games						$	19,102


	December 31, 2023
		Predominantly Monetized Individually		Predominantly Monetized as a Group		Total
Theatrical film production costs:
Released, less amortization		$	2,823	$	—	$	2,823
Completed and not released		107		—		107
In production and other		1,300		—		1,300

Television production costs:
Released, less amortization		1,471		5,317		6,788
Completed and not released		380		606		986
In production and other		417		2,624		3,041
Total theatrical film and television production costs		$	6,498	$	8,547	$	15,045
Licensed content and advances, net						4,519
Live programming and advances, net						1,943
Game development costs, less amortization						565
Total film and television content rights and games						22,072
Less: Current content rights and prepaid license fees, net						(843)
Total noncurrent film and television content rights and games						$	21,229

Content amortization consisted of the following (in millions).


	Year Ended December 31,
	2024		2023		2022

Predominantly monetized individually	$	3,999	$	5,165	$	5,175




Predominantly monetized as a group	9,554		10,648		8,935


Total content amortization	$	13,553	$	15,813	$	14,110

Content expense includes amortization, impairments, and development expense and is generally a component of costs of revenues on the consolidated statements of operations. For the year ended December 31, 2024, total content impairments were $558 million, of which content impairments and other content development costs and write-offs of $165 million were primarily due to the abandonment of certain titles in connection with the fourth quarter 2024 restructuring initiative associated with the Warner Bros. Games group and are reflected in restructuring and other charges in the Studios segment.

For the year ended December 31, 2023, total content impairments were $326 million, of which content impairments and other content development costs and write-offs of $115 million were primarily due to the abandonment of certain films in connection with the third quarter 2023 strategic realignment plan associated with the Warner Bros. Pictures Animation group and are reflected in restructuring and other charges in the Studios segment.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, total content impairments were $2,807 million. Content impairments of $2,756 million and content development write-offs of $377 million were due to the abandonment of certain content categories in connection with the strategic realignment of content following the Merger and are reflected in restructuring and other charges in the Studios, Networks and DTC segments. (See Note 6.)

The table below presents the expected future amortization expense of the Company’s film and television content rights, licensed content and advances, live programming rights and advances, and games as of December 31, 2024 (in millions).


	Year Ending December 31,
	2025		2026		2027
Released investment in films and television content:
Monetized individually	$	946	$	547	$	468
Monetized as a group	2,312		1,284		804
Licensed content and advances	1,394		812		603
Live programming and advances	1,136		33		25
Games	66		3		—

Completed and not released investment in films and television content:
Monetized individually	$	647
Monetized as a group	309

At December 31, 2024, acquired film and television libraries are being amortized using straight-line or other accelerated amortization methods through 2033.